Chapter Five: One and Only
The sky was horribly grey that October night, and as tears dripped in the rain in remembrance of Claudia Reese, Logan stood, his eyes and his head pointed down low, and his fingers lightly laced in Dana's. The wind was cold, and with the rain pounding down hard, Dana wrapped her loose arm around her body. The atmosphere was dark and gloomy and as her stoned body lay in the white casket – the weather matched the occasion. Her pose was one of conventional, her eyes closed and her arms crossed lightly over her heart and she looked peaceful, serene. Logan took a deep breath as he and Dana walked over to the casket. Logan gripped his hand to the white leather inside the casket and stared into his grandmother's closed eyes. His stomach started to shake uncontrollably and a salty teardrop fell from his eye.
"Open", Logan whispered feebly, as if demanding his grandmother to open her eyes, as if she could listen, "Dammit grandma! Open your eyes". More tears dripped from his eyes, he reached for her hand, "You're not dead! You can't be – you can't be dead!" He tried picking up her arm – he tried but failed so horribly.
Logan's father tried to whisk him away, Logan was causing bigger a scene than attended, "Logan come on – let's go inside". He grabbed Logan's arm and pulled him away breaking his hands free from Dana's, "Sorry", he apologized to the attendees of the funeral, "He's super sensitive". The way he uttered those words held certain bitterness that only Logan's dad could pull off. Violently he pushed Logan inside the kitchen and stared at him, "What the hell were you doing out there?" His hands were placed firmly on the dinner table, "You looked like a punk out there!"
"Sorry dad", Logan looked down at the ground, "I don't know what happened". Logan was used to one of his father's many rages. It was the result of too much testosterone – a horrible trait of all the Reese men.
Mr. Reese began to pace around the kitchen, "We all miss her okay?" His voice softened for a second, "But you can not show any sign of weakness. You're a man!" His voice rose to a higher volume which startled Logan.
Logan looked out the window, "Well maybe if you actually missed her…"
Mr. Reese threw a vase on the floor and stormed towards Logan; he pushed him against the wall and pointed his finger directly in his face, "You don't know a damn thing about me Logan. She's my mother, of course I miss her. But I'm not going to sit around and cry like a little girl!" He pushed him harder this time.
Logan just stood there and stared his eyes in his father's deep gray ones, "I'm not a girl", he croaked, "I'm not a fucking girl", the words came out as bitter as they possibly could. Logan wiped a tear from his eye and pushed his father.
"Well start acting like one", Mr. Reese demanded, "I will not sit here and watch my son make a fool of himself. Go up to your room – now!"
"Dad, there's a funeral…"
"Go Logan", he pointed his finger in the direction of Logan's bedroom and watched as he feebly staggered upstairs. Dana then slid into the kitchen and turned to Mr. Reese who's hands were firmly placed on the kitchen table, his head was hung down low and tears were rolling down his cheeks, "Dana, Logan's in his room", Mr. Reese breathed without looking up to make eye contact with Dana, "You can go upstairs if you want".
Dana nodded and slowly walked upstairs, her feet weighing heavily as she approached every step. 'What am I going to say?' Dana wondered as she walked as slow as she could upstairs, 'What can I say? No one in my family has ever died before – well except for my pet rat Lucifer – but… it's not the same, I can't do this. I can't – but it was already too late. Dana had made her way upstairs and in front of Logan's bedroom, the door was wide open and Logan was sitting on his bed looking through photo albums.
"Dana", he looked up, "Come in".
Obediently Dana walked towards Logan and sat down next to him. She pointed at a picture of a woman with Logan at Disneyworld. In the picture they were posing with Goofy, "Is that her?" her voice had an airy tone.
"Yeah", Logan nodded, "It is".
"She's beautiful", Dana breathed, "She's really, really pretty".
"She was super nice too, and I kept thinking how could someone so nice raise someone so evil?" Logan's bottom lip quivered as he turned the page of the photo album.
"Logan…"
"I'm serious! She was the nicest woman on earth, and my dad – my dad thinks he can't treat me like shit and then buy me with money – he does it all the time! And he expects almost – he expects…" Logan's voice was beginning to shake.
"I'm sure he loves you".
"BULLSHIT!" Logan screamed and threw the photo album on the ground with tremendous strength, "Bullshit. He pulled me away from her – he – he thinks he's so fucking strong and…" Logan was starting to break down crying, "He's a jackass. I hate my dad so much Dana! I hate him, and I hate how he treats people, God I can't wait to get back to PCA".
"You can't run away from him forever".
"No shit", Logan replied glumly, "Do you know he never hugged me? Never".
"Really? What about your mom?"
"My mom's my mom", Logan shrugged, "She's awesome, but she can't control him – and she can't divorce him either. She lovesthis lifestyleway too much – for once I want someone to be on my side – I want someone who actually cares".
"I care Logan", Dana stood up and gave him a hug, "I'm on your side".
"Please don't lie to me Dana".
"I'm not", Dana kissed him softly on the lips, "Because I love you".
"I love you too", Logan hugged Dana to his chest, "I love you too".
She had asked him out, and Chase, being the careful person he was wanted to go to Zoey for advice, for her permission. He was convinced if she told him that he should go out and date Kelly, there was no hope for them and he'd just have to move on. Case closed. God, how stupid will I look? Chase wondered to himself, asking her if I should go out with Kelly. The best friend speech would do the trick, he was convinced, it would give him more than a right reason to come to her in the first place, so swallowing his pride, Chase sat down next to Zoey in the dorm lounge and grinned at her.
"Why are you so happy?" Zoey asked.
Chase shrugged, "You know Kelly Carter?"
"Yeah, she's in my gym class", Zoey looked at Chase, "Why?"
"She asked me out", Chase said bluntly.
"Congratulations".
"So I should go out with her?" Chase asked, "Zoey, I value your opinion more than anyone else I know, you're my best friend and if you hate Kelly and know something weird about her like she has jam in between her toenails then I want to hear it, right now, before I ask her out".
"Go for it", Zoey smiled, "Kelly's nice and I think you two would be great together".
"Really? Are you sure?"
"Yeah, definitely".
So it's over, Chase thought silently in the back of his head, he nodded slowly to himself and mumbled the audible words, "Thanks Zoey".
"Yeah, that's what friends are for", Zoey smiled, "So have you finished your story?"
"Nope", Chase shook his head, "But I'm sort of at a block right now".
"Any inspiration?"
"None".
"I've heard that some writers pull their inspiration from personal experiences, did you know that?"
"No", Chase lied, "But thanks for the tip".
"No problem. So do you want to go get sushi or something? Curfew isn't for another two hours…"
"I'd love to – but I should better find Kelly", Chase stood up, "Bye Zoey, thanks for the help".
"You're welcome", Zoey waved, "Good luck".
"Thanks", Chase walked away. He wasn't usually one to turn down any invitation from Zoey, but now things were different, she had basically instructed him to go out with Kelly Carter, like she didn't want him in her face anymore, like a new girlfriend was just the thing he needed. He was hoping that Zoey would've said, "HELL NO, I DON'T WANT YOU TO GO OUT WITH THAT BITCH!" And then he'd declare his love for her right there. But things never seemed to work out in Chase's favor. It was like the universe hated him or something, and he hated the universe even more.
"Kelly", Chase ran up to her as he was walking out of the lounge, "What's up?"
"Nothing", Kelly smiled up at Chase, "I was just going to get some sushi…"
"Can I come?" Chase asked.
"Don't you have somewhere to be, with Zoey?" The name was dragged out of her mouth almost bitterly.
Chase shrugged, "I turned her down so I could hang out with you".
"Why?"
"Because I want to be your boyfriend Kelly".
Kelly smiled and pulled Chase's face in her hands, and gave him a long, sultry kiss.
Zoey sat in the dorm lounge. Why did I tell him to do it? She wondered to herself, another voice inside herself answered, Because of what happened last Friday – because of how embarrassing it was to have false hope. I probably looked like a deer, staring into his eyes like that. I'm a complete idiot. She remembered how cute he looked, carefully stepping over her to go to the bathroom, and on the way home walking her all the way to her dorm room and giving her a friendly hug after their "date". She had expected something more – maybe something like a kiss. But Zoey Brooks had no luck, all Chase wanted to be was friends, and she wasn't going to let it burn her. She was going to let it eat her inside.
"MICHAEL!" Lizzy's voice was high pitched and energetic as she talked on the phone, no one would've guessed she had leukemia; she seemed so happy, so full of life. And this was only on the phone.
Michael forced a smile, "Hey Lizzy, how are you feeling?"
"Tired, a lot", she answered plainly, "This sucks".
"I agree. This really, really, sucks".
"Michael, when are you coming home?" Lizzy asked, sadly this time, "I want you to come home".
"I'll be back for Christmas".
"What if I don't live until Christmas?" Lizzy asked, worried now, "Leukemia kills people".
"Not if they're strong, and you have to swear to me that you'll be strong".
"I'll be strong Michael", Lizzy replied blandly.
"No, you have to swear to God that you'll be strong", Michael sighed, "Say it".
"I swear to God I'll stay strong – and I swear to Michael and I swear to myself".
"That's what I want to hear", Michael tried to force a smile, for Lizzy's sake, "Are the doctors being nice to you?"
"Some of them, some of them are big, meanies. I don't like those".
"Well tell those meanies if they don't stop being mean to you that you're big, bad dinosaur brother will come and attack them".
"YOU BETTER!"
"Tell them, and they won't be mean to you".
"You swear?"
"Have I ever lied to you?"
At that moment, Nicole walked into Michael's dorm room and shut the door lightly behind her.
"You've never ever lied to me", Lizzy admitted, "Why not?"
Michael turned around and waved at Nicole, "Because, I'm your big brother. I'd never lie to you", he whispered into the receiver.
"Never?"
"Ever", Michael breathed, "I gotta go Lizzy, but you'll call me tomorrow right?"
"Right".
"Bye, I love you", Michael hung up the phone and turned to Nicole.
Nicole walked towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck, she greeted him with a soft kiss on his lips, "Hey sexy", she grinned, "Yuker in Matt's dorm room, do you wanna go?"
"Sure".
"Who were you talking to by the way? Some other girl that you like besides me?" Nicole asked flirtatiously.
"Of course not", Michael smiled, "That was my little sister Lizzy".
"Oh? My brother never calls me", Nicole bit her bottom lip, "You must be the best".
"Your brother would call you a lot too, if you had leukemia", Michael swallowed and closed his eyes.
Nicole's jaw dropped, "Is Lizzy going to die?"
"I don't know", Michael shrugged, "I don't want to think about it, let's go play Yuker".
He grabbed Nicole's hand and walked with her out the door. But Nicole was worried; Michael had been playing this happy-go-lucky routine when obviously something was going on back home with him, and his family. She didn't know what to do; she didn't know how to be the good girlfriend. But one thing was for sure, if Michael was going to spontaneously combust, Nicole assured herself that she'd be there to pick up the pieces, and no one else.
His name was Dylan; he came from Houston, Texas and was in love with artwork. PCA was a last resort for him; it was either PCA or juvy. He came here because he and a couple of his friends were being stupid one night, driving into things, people. They were all high no doubt – Dylan was the only one who was mildly sober, so he got off easier. With the assurance that he'd do well at PCA – or else juvy had his name plastered all over it. He and Quinn sat down at Sushi Rox, across from each other, their eyes glued on their food.
"So you don't talk a lot", Dylan observed, looking up from his food, "You nearly kill a guy and you won't even thank him for dinner. You're one strange girl Quinn".
"I'm sorry again and sorry for being strange", Quinn was still looking down, she was now burying her sushi in salt.
"I like strange", Dylan smiled and took the salt out of Quinn's hand, "You're going pretty crazy with that stuff".
"Yeah, I know. I get kind of nervous sometimes… sorry".
"Why do you always apologize?" Dylan wondered, sprinkling a little salt on his sushi.
"Isn't that what you want to hear?" Quinn wondered aloud, her gaze now meeting Dylan's.
Dylan shook his head, "I want to hear what makes you tick, I want to hear about your favorite band, and your favorite color, I want to hear about you Quinn".
"I'm not really all that interesting…" Quinn pulled her hair behind her ear.
"I don't believe you", Dylan teased.
"You should!"
"Well make me change my mind".
"Okay, so I make inventions", Quinn paused, "I know that sounds really freaky and lame but I do".
"No, no, no. Pretty and smart, I like that".
Quinn blushed.
"Are you blushing?" Dylan taunted.
Quinn smiled, looked down, and shook her head.
"You're lying! So Quinn, you're a liar too?"
"Of course not. I don't lie".
"Did you know it's humanly impossible not to lie? I bet you did".
"I didn't".
"Liar".
Quinn started to laugh, "Dylan you're crazy".
"Why?"
"Because you just are, who asks someone like me out after I almost killed you?"
"Me", Dylan sprinkled some more salt on his sushi, "Because I'm crazy about you".
(A/N: Okay, so last chapter I made a mistake, when I was talking about how long Logan had been at home I meant one week, not two.)